Blue Square traders give us their top tips on the upcoming meeting between England and Pakistan

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When the talking stops and the action continues, England (8-15) will be expected to see off a depleted Pakistan side (6-4) during Sunday’s first twenty20 encounter at Cardiff. Along with Test captain Salman Butt, the tourists have sent alleged trouble-makers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir home early from the tour, and that will leave a big hole in the bowling ranks for Pakistan.

The injury-prone Umar Gul and the erratic Shoaib Akhtar will be leading the line for new skipper Shahid Afridi, leaving England’s batsmen with little to fear. In a new look line-up, Steven Davies and Craig Kieswetter will open the batting, but its Ravi Bopara at no.3 who heads the Top England Runscorer market at 7-2, ahead of the openers who can be backed at 4-1 apiece. With Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan (both 9-2) lurking down the order, none of the top three could be backed with confidence in that market, so the bet of choice on Sunday is England to hit the most sixes at 11-10.

Gone are the days of batsmen nurdling singles to square leg, and with the side now packed full of power-hitters  against a fragile Pakistan team, there’s every chance the home side will win handsomely with sixes in abundance along the way.

England are solid 7-5 favourites to win both matches in the T20 series, and we’ve just opened the book on the five-match ODI series too, where England are 2-5 to get the better of Pakistan at 15-8.

With Kevin Pietersen filling in for Davies at Surrey these days, Andrew Strauss is our favourite to score the most runs for England in the series at 3-1, but it may be worth taking a look at Jonathan Trott’s chances at 4-1 – the Warwickshire man was in great nick throughout the Test series and appears to have the measure of the opposition right now. A 5-0 series whitewash in the home side’s favour is a 6-1 chance, and that looks decent given the apparent gulf in class between the sides. As for Pakistan, well you couldn’t back them with someone else’s money, could you?